Tracing missing Covid patients a tough task

Tracing “missing” persons who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is among the top priorities of the Gurugram police at present. Officials

Tracing “missing” persons who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is among the top priorities of the Gurugram police at present. Officials said that although instances of people disappearing have gone down after awareness drives, 59 persons who tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of October remain untraceable.

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Three-member teams from each of the 40 police stations are conducting investigations based on technical surveillance to find them. The “missing” patients had shared incorrect phone numbers and addresses in the form filled before conducting the antigen and RT-PCR tests, making it difficult for authorities to trace them.

Virender Yadav, chief medical officer of Gurugram, Civil Hospital, said that the police teams have direct access to the master portal to check the details of those who had undergone the tests. “Earlier, we used to involve police personnel along with our teams but now they are independently handling the untraceable list. We involve police teams in contact tracing only when required, if we face any challenges such as people not cooperating with us or try to avoid being tested,” he said.

In July, the police had traced more than 1,538 people who had gone missing after testing positive for Covid-19 since March, when the lockdown started. “Most of the migrant labourers had gone to their home towns after getting their tests conducted. People used to get scared knowing that they had to remain in isolation and will not be allowed to move out, due to which they used to move out of station to evade detection,” Yadav said.

Tracking patients and their close contacts is critical in curbing the spread of Covid-19, for which more than 300 teams of district administration and health departments are working towards it.

Each police station is assigned tasks in this regard on a daily basis by the assistant commissioner of police (headquarters), with a report to be filed each evening.

KK Rao, the commissioner of police, said that they are involving the cyber crime cell and the crime branch for the purpose as well. The teams have verified more than 4,000 credentials since March. “We have directed all the teams from all branches to ensure they are tracing people from all jurisdiction who had gone missing and are traced within two days after they are listed untraceable,” he said.

The police said that four of every 100 positive case in the district were reported untraceable. Such patients, fearing stigma, provide wrong credentials and switch off their mobile phones to avoid detection.

Yadav said it is extremely challenging to trace people who have mentioned wrong addresses, as the exercise involves lot of travel and investigation, sometimes to other states as well. “As soon as details of untraceable patients are uploaded on the portal, the police start checking the addresses of the patient and a team from the respective jurisdiction is sent to the area to verify the name mentioned in the form. Simultaneously, the mobile number is given to the cyber crime team, who take out the call detail records of the patients and get the correct addresses through their friends and relatives,” he said.

The police said that such incidents have come down from 40 per month to between 10 and 15.

Rao said that the police teams are also spreading awareness, asking people who have been tested positive to remain indoors and avoid contact with others. “We have registered more than 150 cases since March against such people and have warned them of strict action. But still, people are not sensitive towards the issue and are risking their lives as well as that of others,” he said.